During operation of an internal combustion engine, excess fuel may be unnecessarily consumed when the internal combustion engine is not operating under a heavy load. In such arrangements, air and fuel may continue to be delivered to and ignited within each cylinder in the internal combustion engine, even if current load demands are less than the current output of the engine. In addition, various systems associated with an exhaust system of the internal combustion engine may not operate properly, or may operate inefficiently, unless exhaust gas temperatures are produced at some minimum threshold level.